We're Halfway There
After that season, Cabral moved on to Miami FC where he spent the previous two seasons and this offseason before the once and future Tormenta legend decided to come back to Statesboro.
Visa issues, however, delayed his return to Statesboro until Friday, when he arrived at halftime of Tormenta's preseason matchup with Atlanta Athletico having come straight from the airport, where team owner Darin Van Tassell had gone to pick him up.
I took the opportunity to sit next to him in the stands, after he'd changed into his official Tormenta gear, and ask him a few questions, which I'm quite sure is not something he wanted to do after flying in from Brazil, but he was cool about it and he said he remembered me when Van Tassell reintroduced us. Was he being polite? Who's to say? (I saw him again at practice Monday and he remembered my son, so maybe he actually did remember me.)
He said familiarity with Tormenta and Manager Ian Cameron was a big factor in returning to Statesboro and knowing that Cameron expects and demands should hopefully make the transition into the Tormenta squad a little easier. He added that there's no magic bullet to joining a squad that's been training together for a few weeks, but that it'll just take time to get to know the guys on and off the field and learning what they like and don't like.
Cabral will be the only player from the 2022 title-winning team on the roster, which I kind of wish I knew would happen before writing a whole post about how Tormenta (and all sports teams) are basically the modern equivalent of the Ship of Theseus.
He compared the heat in Petropolis, Brazil where he flew in from to that of Statesboro in the summer, but said the Miami heat and humidity was a whole different animal. He also said it was weird being in the stands to watch a game. "I don't like it," he joked to those around him.
Oh yeah, the game. I should probably talk about that.
First off, let's get to the obvious question. Why are they playing at 11 a.m. on a Friday? Turns out, there's a simple answer. Since the game was basically practice for the day, it fit in best with their practice schedule to play at that time. It was never designed to to draw a crowd (Someone said there were 21 fans in attendance, which considering it was Friday morning at 11 a.m., seems about right.) Sure, I had to use some PTO from my real job to go watch, but oh well, that's what PTO is for.
As for the game itself, Tormenta won 8-0, I think, over Atlanta Athletico. While the outcome of the game was never truly in doubt (Tormenta might have allowed two decent chances during the match), the larger part, as with all preseason games, is creating the culture and dynamic a team needs when the regular season starts.
"It's about the habits, the relationships, the microrelationships across the field, and that was good," Cameron said following the match. "The spirit of the group is good. Their focus was quite good today considering they were in control of the game. They understood that you don't give up any chances even if you have superiority. Those learned habits were positive and I think it's another step forward for this group."
So after back-to-back big preseason wins, you'd think Cameron has a pretty good idea of where his team is as we're about halfway through the preseason, right?
Well... no, not really.
"I don't quite know," he said when asked about where his team is at this point.* "I'd say that's partly because we've played two game in a row now, between (Friday) and Atlanta United 2 that had kind of a weaker group out there. I think there's positives from those games, but it's not a fair reflection."
That changes this week when Tormenta faces Tampa Bay Rowdies on Wednesday and then will play a closed to the public match that has not been publicly announced by either Tormenta or their USL Championship opponent**.
"Now we're going to flip it and we're going to play the Rowdies who are clearly better than us," Cameron said. "So we're going to oscillate from pure domination to then being the underdogs and having to dig deep and fight."
Cameron said the different dynamic means he's looking for different things in the final two preseason matchups.
"It's unlikely we'll put 90 minutes together that'll be controlled or domination. But can we dominate certain periods of the game? And then, can we show when we're up against it, can we show real resilience?" Cameron said.
"I'd like to look back at the tape of those games and say 'maybe we made a mistake here because they're physically bigger or stronger, or there was a set piece they dominated us on.' Ok, well, that's a score, but can we look at the film and and find this 10-minute period where we had them pinned in or this 10-minute period where we're in a mid-block defensively and we're touching the ball, but really, we're resolute and snuffed them out and control the game without the ball," he said.
"So we're looking for those segments in the matches where we really impressed ourselves on the opposition and if we can pull of multiple of those segments in the two games, then that will be real progress towards opening night in three week's time," Cameron said.
Cameron said Tampa Bay and the other team for the final two preseason games were selected to give Tormenta different looks that they can expect to see in the League One regular season, with Tampa Bay traditionally playing with three in the back and their other opponent typically playing with four across the back line.
"We know once we go into the season, Omaha will be a back three, as they build, Madison will be a back three. We know that Naples will be, we know that Texoma will be. We know that Richmond will be a (back) four, we know that Knoxville will probably be a four, so we want to make sure we play the elite in those two systems and that's why they've been picked," Cameron said.
Tormenta will have a light training session today (which means I'd be on the ground begging for oxygen five minutes in to it) before departing for Tampa Bay. If you're in the area and want to get banned by the Rowdies and possibly arrested, Wednesday's match is closed to the public. If you can get a job with either team between now and then and then smuggle footage out to me, along with quotes from players and coaches, I would be momentarily grateful. It's a big ask, I know, especially since you'd probably want your identity hidden and would be risking quite a lot for no discernible benefit to yourself, but if you're willing to be that person, I would need you to ask yourself what you're doing with your life because, man, it's just a preseason soccer game.
Also, Rowdies, what are we doing? It's just a preseason soccer game. Come on.
*I'm sorry to my journalism professors who taught me I shouldn't formulate a sentence where I provide the question in the sentence. My bad.
**Yes, I know who it is, but I only have one on the record source to confirm it and I've already upset my college journalism professors once in this blog and don't want to do it a second time by running with a story with only one source.
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